A cool, slightly damp course at Champions Retreat wasn’t enough to extinguish Hannah Darling’s hot first round Wednesday during the Augusta National Women’s Amateur’s first round of play.
The Scotland native, making her third ANWA appearance, took a one-stroke lead into the clubhouse after shooting a six-under 66. Hers was also a record-breaking performance in that she recorded eight birdies in the first round, including six for the front nine.
Those eight birdies were the most in ANWA history, and her first-round score tied 2023 ANWA winner Rose Zhang’s first-round score of 66 in last year’s Championship.
Though it remains to be seen if Darling will follow Zhang’s footsteps, the University of South Carolina junior did feel good about her opening round, crediting the cerebral part of her game for her quick start.
“The way I thought my way around the golf course was great today,” Darlin said. “I was really disciplined. Me and my caddie, we made some really smart targets, and we were just hitting committed shots to those targets. I hit pretty much every shot today great. We hit great shots to our intention and to our targets.”
Darling’s opening round performance placed her just ahead of a three-way tie for second between Francesca Fiorellin (Italy)I, Eila Galitsky (Thailand) and Ingrid Lindblad (Sweden) — all of whom shot a five-under 67.
It was a stellar round of golf for just about everyone on the course, despite first-round starting times being delayed an hour due to rain and thunderstorms that swept through the area just before sunrise.
In all an ANWA record 28 golfers scored under par first rounds, besting the previous record of 27 set last year in ANWA’s second round.
Galitsky’s birdie-eagle finish helped catapult her into the aforementioned tie with Fiorellini and world No. 1 Lindblad.
For Darling, her first day on the course could be an omen of shifting outcomes. Darling finished 27th in her 2022 ANWA appearance and didn’t make the second round cut in 2023.
Competition will continue into round two Thursday which will set the stage for a cut that puts the top 30 players into Saturday’s final round at Augusta National.
